Chapter 36
Kasler dove to the side. Diablo's claws missed him by inches. The great beast hurled another clawed arm at the demon hunter. The demon managed to nick the hunter in mid air. Kasler rolled to his feet several feet from Diablo. He starred at the beast as he raised his bow. He felt his arms trembling, he looked to his weapon and saw that it was shaking slightly. He summoned a sentry to combat the monster as he tried to gather himself. Diablo crushed the miniature siege weapon. Kasler's pets were hurled aside, leaving just Kasler and Diablo. Scrambling for composure he tried to put distance between them. All he could think about was Leah and her demise. He shoved the thoughts aside and let his mind sink into the void. Instincts and revenge took control and finally gave him the ability to fight. Arrows flew at Diablo, the demon laughed as he swatted them away. Diablo began to get frustrated at the hunters persistent dodging. With a mighty roar he swung his tail into Kasler's chest as he attempted to summon another sentry.
The pillar Kasler smashed into was as unforgiving as it was unyielding. It held him for a moment until his body relaxed enough to brake his mold in the stone structure. He sank to the floor to find himself sitting on a shadowy black mass. Bones jutted up from the mass, caging the hunter where he sat. Kasler fought against the entrapment, shaking the bones and prying at every joint he could see. Diablo stalked over to him. Rage prickled at Kasler as Diablo lifted a mammoth talon foot above the cage. The demon's weight alone could have broken the bones that just cracked. In all of Kasler's years of hunting, he learned one thing. Think fast. Diablo brought his foot back up again, shrieking and howling in surprised pain. The demon toppled over, violently rolling and clawing at anything that would have strayed to close. Kasler gripped his arm around his chest and felt the cracked ribs. He thanked Anu for Haedrig's quality of work and his own experience. An arrow was wedged between the muscles of the demon's foot. The tip sticking out, Diablo saw it and roared louder then before. He smacked the arrow head away and tore the shaft from his hide. Kasler lifted his bow and saw the cracked grip and upper limb. Cursing his luck, he drew back an arrow. Letting loose the arrow flew from the weapon and stuck in eye of Diablo. The demon threw back his head, pawing at his face and eyes. Reeling away, Kasler let Raven's Wing fall to the floor. He took out a simple dagger he kept and prepared to take the demon down with him. Diablo's head whipped around, he took in a deep draw of breath and held it for a moment. Kasler was confused but still choose to run at the monster. Fire erupted forth from Diablo's mouth and hands. The demon hunter saw the incoming flames too late. He wasn't able to throw himself out of the way, but he was able to dive himself into a ball. Diablo's hellfire spread from his hand like fire on water. The red imbued smoke that followed it bellowed out and scorched everything it touched. Kasler didn't dare to uncurl himself as he felt the flames engulf him.
Diablo hissed as the hellfire receded. Kasler felt his armor constricting as it cooled in the Silver City's cold air. He lifted his head slightly to see the extent of the damage. Where Kasler expected a nasty red and black demon clawed foot, he saw a black leather armored boot. Green and gold trimmed robes flicked as they settled. Laufey stood between him and Diablo, to Kasler's right stood Dante. The red hunter's Mempo of Twilight fixed in a hard stare at the Prime Evil. Kasler's pets had regained consciousness and joined the nephalem were they stood. Diablo growled and paced in front of the archway.
Dante helped Kasler to his feet. "You didn't invite us. So we crashed the party."
"...Tyrael's friends?" Kasler asked as he gave his armor a good tug and shake.
Laufey barely moved his head to acknowledge Kasler. "Fine. He's taking care of them. Seems this demon has been giving you trouble." Humor faintly snaked its way into the wizards words.
Kasler lifted his broken bow, keeping his eyes on Diablo. The demon was sizing up the new odds. "He broke my bow."
"Suppose we'll have to break a bone or two of his to balance that." Dante glanced at it.
Laufey opened a hand out to his side, motioning to take hold of the weapon. He took two runes, Ral and Amn, and a amethyst from his pouch. Diablo froze as Laufey also pulled a rusty old cube out. The wizard dropped the runes and gem into the box, and clasped the box around the bow. A dim flash of light and Laufey pulled the bow free, repaired.
Kasler took the bow and looked puzzled at Laufey. "It was my parent's cube." Laufey nodded.
The brief silence was broken by a deafening roar from Diablo. The three turned to face him. Unable to move fast enough, Diablo took Laufey by the throat and slammed him into the giant crystal on the other side of the room. Diablo's breath was heavy, his anger driving him to grind his teeth till they bled.
"Horadric cube." Diablo spit the name out. He eyed the squirming angry wizard. "...Ah...The necromancer and the druid." The demon smiled as he turned and hurled the wizard into the hunters. The demon charged them, a hand to each hunters throat and a foot pressing down the wizards chest. "The assassin and the whore..." Diablo's breath plumed out against Dante's mask. "The zealot crusader and the scared farm girl."
Laufey conjured a beam of fire and poured all the strength into it. The blast struck Diablo in the gut, sending him retreating back to the crystal. The three climbed painfully to their feet. Moving side to side the Prime Evil stalked ever closer to the party. Concern took hold of the men, fear ran up their spines.
Diablo's tail flicked as he hunkered down as if to pounce. "The tramp wizard less loved than his perfect brother. Your parents always praised your brother while you were infant. They saw you as a hindrance to their righteous quest."
"Shut up." Dante growled in defense of Laufey. Diablo paused only to change his focus from the wizard to the red hunter. "You. Son of my bane. Still trying to prove you're worth something. Always the son of a common low-rent whore. Never good enough."
Kasler fired an arrow that fell short of it's target. Diablo turned and growled again, standing tall over Kasler. "Son of a murder. Son of scum. How many women did your crazed father take against their wills in the name of the Light? Forgive me for I sinned again?" Diablo was within feet of the men, who stood trapped in the realizations spun by the demon. "His blood is your blood. Bound to the same faults."
Diablo raised a hand to slash the men down. Just as he was about to throw his claws down into them, Kasler heard the distant sound of Leah's chuckle masked and mangled in the horrors of Diablo's chuckle. It was enough to snap the black hunter from his fears and plow shoulder first into the demon's hip, throwing him off balance. Dante and Laufey shook the thoughts from their minds and joined the charge. Diablo again threw them off and let loose his hellfire. Laufey quickly pulled Dante and Kasler behind separate pillars.
"Enough!" Diablo shouted in anger to the hidden men. "Let's see how you fare in my Realm of Terror!"
The world shimmered and wobbled visually as the environment began to change. In the blink of an eye, the three found themselves sitting in the open world of Diablo's making. The ground was cracked and grey in color. Glyphs were craved deep into the dead land. Winds ripped through, pushing the three over every chance they gave it. They couldn't see fifty feet in every direction. A black darker than night was circling them as they moved around.
"Aside the shitty land," Dante looked around. "I don't see what's so scary about this place."
Laufey and Kasler hissed at their third member. "Don't say..."
"Only by defeating us can you return to your own realm!" Diablo yelled over the resoundingly loud winds. Kasler groaned at Dante and Laufey merely glared. "But none have ever crawled from the depths of their own terror!"
Dante and the others got a decent look at the demon before he vanished. He was hard to see in the blackened winds. Where his hide had been colored a bloody red, was now tempered blackness darker than any void. The emptiness was accented by the blue fire illuminating the insides of the demon. Diablo maintained his height and form, he had only changed his coloring. Diablo hopped into the air and curled himself into a ball before vanishing in a puff of black smoke.
Kasler and Laufey went to scold Dante but instead pulled him behind them. A silhouetted version of each of them came running at them. The three sighed and went in for the attack. Knowing their own weaknesses made the shadows easy game. Dante dove at his shadow's chest and gored him on a giant jagged rock. Laufey kept moving until the shadow has lost sight of him, allowing the true Laufey to run a sword through the copies neck. Kasler simply pulled the trigger faster than his clone could. With the three shadows dispatched Diablo returned in a fit of rage. The demon's attacks were more fluid than they were in the Silver City. Between bellowing roars and shrieks of pain the three adventurers drove the demon to retreat again. Again the shadow clones were summoned. Laufey shattered his freshly frozen double. Dante repeatedly bashed his clone's head against the ground. Kasler threw his off the cliff side as it charged him.
A massive glyph lit up the ground beneath their feet. The lines lit up in fire heating the air inside to the point it felt as if they were standing at the edge of a churning volcano. Diablo appeared and wasted no time to attack anyone close. Laufey was his first choice, the wizard casted a beam of ice so cold it burned and broke off chunks of the demons hide. Diablo screamed in pain, landing a kick into the wizards leg. Laufey's stream brought out more problems for Diablo. The demon tried to vanish but was assaulted by a black viscous mass. Diablo tried to pry it from his head and neck. Kasler looked around for Dante, but he wasn't surprised to not find him. Kasler tossed a potion to Laufey to heal his broken leg. Laufey managed to down the liquid and dodge the falling mass of Diablo. The demon's hand was trapped in the substance, a moment later a loud crunch was heard. Diablo let out a scream like no other and immediately began tearing at the black mass. It began to take a more defined shape, Laufey and Kasler recognized Dante's demon form. Diablo was unable to more clones or maintain the Realm of Terror. The world flickered between Diablo's realm and the Silver City until it finally settled as the angelic Heaven. Diablo finally was able to tear the demon from him, it took with him a massive chunk of his shoulder and arm. Diablo roared wordless threats at the opposing demon. It in turn returned the roar and flung itself back at the Prime Evil. Diablo leapt just out of reach of the monstrosity and let it collide with the crystal archway. The pure source of angelic and demonic energy shocked Dante's demon form and threw the creature to the ground.
Diablo was infuriated as he blindly bore down on the pair of heroes. Laufey summoned his hydra as Kasler paired it with his sentry. The demon hunter called up few more miniature siege weapons, they succeeded in slowing Diablo down. The demon feinted a lunge at Kasler and slammed his tail into the chest of Laufey. The demon smiled at Laufey hanging limply from the spikes lined along the beast spine to the tip of his tail. Kasler knew the battle had again turned in the Prime Evil's favor. Despair and anger swarmed up through his mind. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again it was the hard sharp angular claws of his demon form that plunged into Diablo's chest. Diablo and Kasler's demon form were locked in combat. Clawing and biting at each other. The more Kasler watched his form fight, the more his memories of Leah fueled the demons rage. Diablo took a breath to summon his hellfire, but he felt something cold around his throat. Kasler's fist was buried up to his wrist in Diablo's neck. The demon starred with muddled expression as Kasler quickly yanked the monsters throat out. Diablo staggered and took another swipe at the demon, but Kasler answered with a claws through his chest, grasping the demon's heart.
Dante sat up from the floor. Leaping to his feet in a panic when he heard nothing but silence. He saw his pets to the side with Kasler's. They were calm. The red hunter stiffly rose and approached Kasler and Laufey. Diablo's still smoldering corpse laid sprawled out on the angelic stone stone floor. The soulstone had been ripped from the husk of the demon. Laufey was shirtless, bloody bandages wrapped around his ribs beneath his chest. Kasler tethered his helmet to his belt. Harmless burns and several mild bruises littered his neck and face. His black hair was in shambles. The red hunter figured he hadn't missed much. He pulled his helmet off and connected it to his own belt. Laufey and Kasler saw him and motioned for Tyrael to join them.
Auriel and Itherael descended to enter the party. Imperius wasn't any where to be seen. The archangel of Hope floated toward the nephalem. "The day is won." Her voice warm and comforting. Dante and the others felt aches and pains melt away. "Diablo is vanquished, and all evil with him."
Kasler scoffed. The angels turned to him. Dante and Laufey nodding on either side of him. "Bold claim. Evil never stops."
Tyrael felt exhaustion and reality swiftly sweep away his untroubled mood. "Time will tell."